1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to toothbrushes, and, more particularly, to a powered toothbrush having a head with a plurality of movably mounted bristle sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of powered toothbrushes are generally known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,916 discloses an electrically driven toothbrush having a motor drive for rotating a drive shaft. The drive shaft connects to a bristle holder on the head of the toothbrush in such a manner that rotation of the drive shaft causes the bristle holder to rotationally oscillate back and forth. Various other arrangements are known for oscillating a bristle holder mounted to the head of an electric toothbrush.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,942 shows a further type of powered toothbrush wherein the head includes a pair of concentrically arranged sections, each of which is driven in a rotationally oscillating manner in opposite directions. The toothbrush head includes the two counter-oscillating sections, but does not include any other sections onto which bristles may be mounted.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,313 discloses a household appliance such as a toothbrush that may be used for cleaning, polishing, or massaging. The head of the appliance includes a plurality of co-axially rotatable or parallel linearly-movable sections, but fails to provide other bristle-containing sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,567 discloses an electrically-driven toothbrush that includes a rotatable brush head having bristles thereon. A further group of bristles, each of which rotates around its own axis, reside adjacent to the brush head. U.S. Pat. No. 1,796,641 relates to a spotting brush for dry-cleaning that includes a pair of rotatably mounted side-by-side heads.
None of the powered toothbrushes of the related art includes two separate, movable bristle sections or tuft blocks. Thus, there is a need in the art for a powered toothbrush having more than one movable bristle section or tuft block to enhance the cleaning efficiency of the toothbrush.